Battle for Desert Quadrant 3-a-Omega
= Table of Contents = Battle for desert quadrant 3-a-Omega Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 = Battle for desert quadrant 3-a-Omega = An excerpt from the log of Inquisitor Octavian Lars, M42 031 Part 1 “Were’re going in hot Octavian” came my pilot Marcus Flavius over the intervox. Marcus was a skilled pilot I had met on Sternum II, that was all he could do due to a leg condition that made both his real legs rot and bionics short out so he stuck with a grav-chair. Aside from my bodyguard Karazak Johnson, he was one of my most trusted servents. Anyway, all of this made little or no difference as I cut the main lights and engaged combat lighting. We were inserting into the mistd of the desert on the continent of Atlas at the head of a PDF strike team. Our target was a Tau infantry column that was heading straight for the sprawling hab spires Hive Hyperion. The hand picked team in my shuttle had been searching for several weeks for this column with our superior sensor arrays; we were now to call in the cavalry. The troops in my shuttle were; myself, Karazak (who was also the major (CO)in my Catachan bodyguard corps, the Devils), 12 devils and enough combat trucks to see us into battle. The PDF contingent consisted of 50 men in Thunderstorm transports, the equivilent of the chimera armoured transports on VTOL jets led by my former assistant the now captain in the PDF; Thomas Grant. Of all the PDFs I have seen (I have never seen the far superior Cadian Interior Guard in my life), the Velteraxians are by far the most disciplined and drilled. My gunner, Minerva Flavius reported contacts and alerted us to imminent landing. Minerva was Marcus’ wife and another trusted servent in my employ. All of us were combat veterans, even more so than the veteran battalion of PDF that Captain Grant’s contingent had come from. The Devils were hand picked for resoursefulness, courage and loyalty. All applicants went through a grueling training regime, live fire excersies and often fatal drills, these were men who had been through hell and back. War was all they lived for. Inside the shuttle we were checking kit and I was addresing the last minuite brieing. I quickly scanned my trusty revolver for faults, Banisher was flawless. I quickly loaded 6 heavy man stopper rounds for getting through the Tau combat armour. I had a glimpse round, Karazak was checking his bionic power claw and the Devils were checking their elite kit; hellguns, shotguns, shock knives bolters etc. Captain Grant came though on the medium range vox “Ready when you are Inquisitor, Storm Squardron standing by. Over” “Copy that, Captain. Over.” I replied. “Recieved and understood. Over.” “Starting run Storm Squadron. Over.” “The Emperor protects. Over and Out.” “Start the run Marcus,” I called on the Intervox. All I could hear was the whine of the shuttle’s jet motors, the blood in my ears and the chatter of autocannon fire. Then the ramp came down. And then all hell broke loose. Part 2 The ramp hit the sand with a thud and at once I was in the combat zone. The chatter of auto-weapon fire, the screaming pulse from the heretical weapons of the Tau and the bellowed orders from both sides. All of us were thankful the column only consisted of infantry. Had it contained the more specialised AT weapons, our aircraft would have been annihilation during the descent. The blood was even louder in my ears, the sound almost drowned out the noise of battle. I spotted a flash of gunfire that hit a PDF square in the chest. The trooper buckled and crumpled to the floor. I traced the origin point of the shot. My hand was a lightning blur. I reached into my holster, drew banisher and smashed a hole in his helm. I was then searching for a new target. My vox bead pinged in my ear, Karazak was in trouble. I spotted him, surrounded by Tau fire warriors, but he was going to be overwhelmed. I shot one, holstered my revolver and charged in, drawing my power sword as I ran. My impact knocked one to the floor and I brought the sword round in a great arc to remove annother’s head. The next thing I knew was a great explosion of pain in my side as one of the Tau, obvously a soldier of distinguished achievement stabbed his ritual knife into one of the few cracks in my carapace armour breastplate. Instinctively, I brought the pommel of my sword into contact with his face. He fell, dazed. I then delivered the killing blow with the ring mounted micro-las-pistol. Karazak was now free and hunting for new targets. I was doing likewise and considered how combat “felt”. I loved the “zone”, the adrenalin rush, the extreme levels of hormones stimulating your reaction times and thought processing. I was snapped out of my daydream when I saw Lorenzo, a distinguished Devil who had served me for well over 10 years. That was longer than anyone except Karazak and I had to do something in an act of vengance for him. I buchered my way through several of the tau soldiers and caught a glimpse of the primary target. The commander of the column was a so called “Ethereal”, one of the rulers of their Empire. About ten Veltraxian troopers were down already. One of the column’s elite soldiers, mounted in a battlesuit charged towards me. He didn’t even get five of their gargantuan paces before his vital circuits were destroyed by a casual flick of my right hand and a intense ray of heat from the inferno pistol mounted on a ring on my right hand. I charged into the fray once more, with the litanies of hate on my lips, but I cut through one before the inevitable happened. My power sword had run out of charge. I doged a swipe from the butt of a tau rifle, stooped low and sheathed my sword. I leaned backwards to dodge another strike. I spotted a chainsword in the corner of my eye. With the red mist decending and a glint in my eye, I backed out of the fight and sprinted, ducking low and grabed the hefty chainblade with both hands and charged. From the moment the sword made contact with the tau’s flesh, the rapidly rotating chain teeth were splattering the blue blood and gore from the tau soldiers all over me. It was then I looked down at the puddle of blue blood and what I saw shocked me. I was no longer Octavian Lars, saviour of worlds, hero of the masses. I saw myself as an avatar of war, a purger of life. That was the path that led to destroying worlds because you could and summoning daemons. Eventually, that path led to heresy. That was not the Octavian Lars I wanted to become. After that glimse of that path that led to heresy in that puddle, viewing the scarred, gore splattered persona of myself; I thought on Karazak, Captain Grant, the Devils as well as the common soldier. In the case of nearly all of them, they were only tasked with battle and training, they had little mental capacity to even think about the complex tasks of an Imperial Inquisitor. Part 3 While deep in thought on those topics, my vox bead made a sudden ping and I was startled. Captain Grant had ntel for me; I accepted the message. “Inquisitor, my veteran assault team have located the Ethereal. What are our orders. Over” “Pin him down and wait for my presence. Devils will accompany. I repeat, Devils will acompany. Over” “Received and understood. Over and out” I switched the vox bead to the devil’s frequency and ordered them to 56-Gamma and wait for further orders. I also noted from the HUD implanted in my retina that there were eight Devils remaining and twenty-seven PDF including the Captain. I sprinted as fast as my bionic assisted leg would allow whilst reloading Banisher. A chime originating from the scabbard buckled tightly to my back alerted me to the fact that the power sword was recharged and ready for use. I stowed the crude chainsword on my belt for examination of the unholy symbols etched onto the casing and drew my power sword and thumbed the activation rune. A chainsword is a weapon of brute strength, carnage and mayhem. It does not have the same finesse as a power sword. Whenever I can, I use my power sword, to me, a chainsword symbolises chaos in this galaxy. I was still running, pulse weapons fire and the crack of lasguns could be heard in the distance. The Devils had been waiting for several minutes looking phased, which in war makes a great difference. There was a local landmark at 56-Gamma, often known as the Iron Dune, the Mountain of Living Metal as well as other less savoury names. I surveyed the Devils; they were scarred and battered, but they were not phased by injury. They were phased by the death of Lorenzo who was respected by all. The Devils do not show emotion normally. The death of Lorenzo had shaken them badly, they wanted vengeance in his name. The Devils also rarely tire so they were ready for the run to the zone where Grant and his PDF were engaging Tau forces. All we had to do was follow our ears. When we got there; there were still many Tau still to be taken out and we were determined to do it quickly. Our presence was announced by the traditional warcry of Catachan, as well as the roar of bolters and the sharp crack of hellguns. I was a blur. Shooting three Tau through the head with the heavy man-stopper rounds then cut a bloody swathe of silent death with the power sword. Karazak was already engaged in a vicious knot of Tau and dealing with them using his heavy energised claw and his stubber pistol. The remaining Devils were equally destructive and soon the Tau were fleeting the sight of us. Grant came out to meet us. What I like about Captain Thomas Grant is that when giving situation assessments, he gives me the necessary detail quickly and efficiently which makes things so much easier for a commanding officer like myself. “We have trapped the Ethereal in a steep walled ravine to the East. There are several elite men watching him. He will not attempt escape as he knows any attempt will be fatal.” “Thank you Captain, I wish to make a short interrogation before we escort the Ethereal back to my HQ in Hive Hyperion.” “As you wish Inquisitor.” “Order your men to return to the dropships, the situation can be handled by the Devils from here.” “Any other wishes before our departure.” “Yes. I ask you to collect all the injured soldiers, Imperial and Tau. Take the dead from both sides. All fought with honour and shall receive what they deserve. Leave the Devils, myself and the remainder shall collect them.” “As you wish. An Imperial Inquisitor knows what he is doing.” Grant made the sign of the Aquila and departed and resumed ordering his men around. After the final assault, there were seven Devils, Karazak and myself left in a comat ready state. I ordered four of the to find the injured and dead bodies of the Devils from the battlefield. Karazak and the other three Devils to accompany me to the Ethereal. All were to rendezvous at 56-Gamma with the shuttle after completing our tasks. We passed the PDF guards and I ordered them back to the dropships and the three Devils took their place, watching the Ethereal. Myself and Karazak confronted the Ethereal. Part 4 I consider myself skilled in the arts of interrogation. In my opinion, torture can often hide the truth as much as it is revealed; thus I only use it when absolutely necessary. So, I squared up to the ethereal. He had been bound and gagged by the PDF who had captured him. I removed the gag and signaled to Karazak, my bodyguard and assistant, to start the recording. “What is your name?” A classic opening move that helps the interrogator connect with the interrogated. “My name is Ethereal Commander blooded wildflower of the Tau’n sept.” I had been studying the Tau language for nearly thirty years now, on and off during the war against them on Velterax III. My tutor was a captured human who served the Tau as a diplomat and negotiator. This ethereal’s name of wildflower became evident with his next sentence. “What is your purpose here, Gue’La?” I have rarely been disrespected by my captives, even the Eldar have never shown me the disrespect that this Ethereal showed me that day. I replied harshly. “In your foul tongue, the correct term should be Gue’O, Aun’El Tau’n Li’Sun’Ye. In my elegant tongue, my name is Inquisitor Octavian Lars of the Ordo Malleus. And since you ask about my purpose, I shall gladly tell you. My purpose was to capture you and destroy the column heading towards the capital of Velterax III. Which leads on to my next question.” “Which is?” “Don’t interrupt Ethereal! You are in the custody of the Imperial Inquisition and will speak when spoken to, no more. The question I was going to ask was, what was the purpose of your column’s advance?” “I shall not tell one as unworthy as yourself.” “If that is so, I shall have to find out using better methods than are available here. Karazak, vox Marcus and tell him to start the shuttle’s engines and help me move the captive.” We locked him in one of the shuttle’s prison cells, gave him enough sustenance to last the two week journey to my base of operations in the upper spires of Hive Hyperion. My self and Karazak inspected the troops in their sleeping quarters. As it turned out, of the five Devils taken out of action, three would fight again, one was badly wounded, and would be stuck with desk duty, but only one; Lorenzo had been killed outright. He had taken several pulse wounds to the chest, but he kept fighting, according to the Devil who had been beside him when he had been killed. He had charged, grievously injured, wielding his empty bolter as a club and hacking and slashing with his long Catachan warknife. The final blow had come from a Tau squad leader’s knife at the same moment that Lorenzo had stabbed him with his own knife. They had gone down together. All of us departed to our sleeping quarters for the night before the long journey back to base. When we got back, my servants had redeyed my Inquisitorial Mansion for my arrival. A cell in the basement had been prepared for the Ethereal and a safe return banquet had been laid out for my arrival. I decided to allow the Ethereal a night of luxury and he was allowed to dine with us. My Tau language tutor helped prepare some Tau dishes for him. Other members of my staff were distrusting of him due to him being xeno, but many of them enjoyed the Tau culture themed food so I decided that Tau food would become a meal for special occasions. After the great banquet, the Aun’El was escorted to his spartan, but comfortable cell. It was furnished with a simple bed, a toilet, a shower and a small desk. The room was also well lit, it was also the room I would be questioning him in. Confident he was settled and unable to escape, I retired to my study to examine the chainsword I had killed so many fire warriors with. After a quick examination, I had found many clues to it’s origin. The first one I spotted was the mark of the Inquisition, embossed on the casing of the blade. It had to belong to an inquisitor or one of his staff. My long time rival and Tau supporter, Inquisitor Ostrek would never use a chainsword. Gut instinct is often frowned upon within the ranks of my fellow inquisitors, though I often go with my instincts when there are no other clues available. I had run a quick search of all inquisitors active in that area. There was a total of twenty four Inquisitorial missions to the Iron Dune where I had found the chainsword. This was where gut instinct came in. In many cases, chainswords are often wielded by Monodominant Inquisitors and their followers for reasons I can never quite grasp. I then looked further into make and model, date of production, location of production. Eventually, well into the week, I had a name. Inquisitor Tannen von Hausing.